Quinn Kelly is a busy wife and mother of four boys as well as a marriage and family therapist. She hopes to encourage other moms with laughter and honesty and help remind them that the best part about motherhood has nothing to do with being the “perfect” mom or raising the “perfect” kids, but instead enjoying yourself and your children along the way.
If you like what you are reading and want to hear more from Quinn, follow her personal blog Sanctification and Spitup, which is also found on Facebook.

Pregnancy announcements are fun, but gender announcements are sometimes even more exciting. Or at least they are to me. Because they take the baby from a hypothetical he or she, to a determined son or daughter. I love my babies from the moment I take the pregnancy test and see a positive, but I feel like my bond with them begins after I know their gender!

Of course, gender announcements also seem to elicit a lot of emotion from family and friends and, of course, the parents! And while this is normally positive emotions, sometimes it can be the opposite. Finding out you are having a daughter when you always dreamed of having a son or finding out you are having a son when you always dreamed of a daughter can be slightly disappointing. Especially if the reactions of others are not exactly supportive of your hopes and dreams!

Which is exactly why I think gender announcements should be fun and full of joy. You can let them set the tone for the reaction you are wanting to receive whether through sweet sentiment or plain comic relief. I recently announced that I am pregnant with my fourth son, and I knew that the announcement needed to be fun and slightly over-the-top in order to elicit congratulations and not condolences.

If I’m happy, I certainly don’t want sympathy from others while announcing the gender of my fourth child. Right? (FYI: People cannot help but feel sympathy for a mom of all boys. 🙂 ) So here’s how I did it with comedy and joy! 🙂

“Sometimes when you’re really good at something (and I do mean really, really, REALLY good), you just have to brag. So today I’d like to announce my fourth victory in the Miss Ultimate Supreme Boy-Making Mom Pageant 2015! We can’t wait to meet baby BOY #4!”

And of course this idea could be reversed if a mom was having her fourth girl.

First-time Announcement

Gender announcements seem to be full of beautiful photography and creativity these days, but sometimes there is nothing cuter than simple and sweet. Here is a simple and classic way to announce the gender of a son…

“Beep! Beep! Now I know why it feels like there’s a traffic jam in my belly. Make way for firetrucks, diggers and hot wheels come May!”

Here’s a sweet way to announce your first daughter especially if you have been married awhile or have worked hard to conceive. (Or if you are just really possessive of your man. 😉

“After 7 years of being his one and only princess, I’m ready to hand over my crown to his newest little princess.”

Plays on Traditional Pink or Blue

Here’s a fun way to incorporate pink if an older brother is getting ready to get a sister. Of course this could work if you have multiple boys too. And you can switch the color to blue if your daughter is getting a new baby brother.

“This Spring, we will be introducing a new color to his vocabulary. PINK!!”

Here’s a simple way to play with the color blue if you are having a boy. Take a pic of you or your belly and then tint the picture to blue. You can then say something along the lines of “I’m feeling blue today, baby blue in fact. And I’m as happy as I can be! Baby Boy coming February 2016.”

If you have access to a more advanced editing program, you could have everything in the picture be black and white except you and your belly or clothing with a tint of blue.

Having Fun Incorporating Siblings With a Gender Switch-up

Here’s a cute way to announce a house full of girls is getting a brother…

And here’s another comical and slightly absurd idea if a house of boys is getting ready to welcome in a new sister. (Fingers crossed my sons forgive me for making them be a part of this crazy idea. 😉

Here’s a cute way to announce if a brother and a sister find out they are having another brother. (And this concept could be reversed if it was another sister.)

“We are SO excited to announce a new little brother will be joining our family this fall. Okay, some of us may be more excited than others! 🙂 ”

And here’s a cute and simple idea for the superhero-loving older brother whether he is getting a baby sister or brother (Photo credit: Brittnie Stevenson Photography)…

Back to the Basics with Twins

The parents who created this birth announcement were both Biology majors so they thought it was only fitting to get down to the chromosomes when announcing the gender of their two baby boys! (Photo credit: Twyla Jones Photography)

So after looking at some of these ideas, I hope you are inspired to get your creative juices flowing for your upcoming gender announcement. Feel free to share with us how you announced the gender of your baby and other ways to announce your baby’s gender!